1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed generally towards an apparatus and method for use in dry processing any photographic roll film, and more particularly towards a spool caddy for use with a system, such as the system disclosed in Polaroid Case No. 8221, entitled "System for Optical Dry Processing of Spooled Photographic Film", having United States provisional application serial No. 60/040,388 filed on Mar. 11, 1997 and also filed as an utility patent application even date herewith, for pad processing of photographic roll film, such as 35 mm film.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pad processing is a well known dry optical image processing technique for processing a photographic film using webs, also known as pads, which contain processing fluids. Pad processing is considered a dry processing technique since liquid chemical baths are replaced with reagent laden webs which have been imbibed with processing chemicals. Sometimes a pad is saturated with processing chemicals and at other times, the processing chemicals are stored in a rupturable pod. When the pod is ruptured, the processing chemicals are spread across the web as a first step towards film development.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,366 issued Aug. 8, 1995 to Reiss and Cocco, a system and method are disclosed whereby individual processing pads are sequentially wrapped onto a single processing spool. One embodiment discloses a processing spool which houses all the processing webs such as: a first reagent laden web which could be imbibed, for instance, with developing chemicals; a second reagent laden web which could be imbibed, for instance, with bleaching and fixing chemicals; and a third reagent laden web which could be imbibed, for instance, with washing and stabilizing chemicals. A photographic film is housed in a separate standard 35 mm cartridge. The first web is combined with the film for a first preset time, then the first web and the film are separated and the second web and the film are combined for a second preset time, then the second web and the film are separated and the third web and the film are combined for a third preset time. After the third web and the film are separated, the optical processing of the photographic film is complete. An alternative embodiment uses a standard size 35 mm cartridge for housing both the processing webs and the photographic film. However, the standard size 35 mm cartridge limits the number of exposures available from such a combined web/film spool. If the cartridge was made larger to hold more exposures, then it would not fit into a standard 35 mm camera. Also, the complete separation or isolation of each processing web from one another and from the film is quite difficult.
The above and other disadvantages of existing processing systems are overcome through the use of a spool caddy built in accordance with the principles of the invention for use with a dry optical image processing system. The spool caddy isolates processing spools from one another, and supports both the film cartridge and a multitude of processing spools during processing.